Page 9 of A Virgin for the Stone Highlander
Even if she could remain a guest beneath Aaron’s roof, she would spend the rest of her life as Martin’s apprentice, dependent on Aaron’s mercy. But this… this was different. This was a chance to be free. Truly be free.
A month for the rest of me life.
It no longer seemed like an impossible choice to make. This was a price she was willing to pay in exchange for her freedom.
Slowly, she lifted her gaze back to him.
“I shall do it,” she said quietly, and Aaron’s eyes lit up with the faintest glimmer of something she could not understand. “I shall be yer betrothed.”
His hand slipped from her wrist as she stepped back slightly. And for the first time since she entered the study, satisfaction flickered openly across his face.
CHAPTER THREE
Aaron had not expected convincing Edith to be so much of a task, but perhaps he should have.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he watched her wrestle with her decision. He could already tell how much she disliked giving him this satisfaction.
Her lips had thinned into a stubborn line, matching the deepening frown on her face, and her chin lifted slightly as she glared at him.
“What must I do?” she asked, the reluctance in her voice amusing him further.
He straightened. If his plan was to work as he intended, he had to set some ground rules.
“We will be formal,” he said firmly. “At all times.”
Edith huffed softly. “I have no care for whispers, me Laird,” she replied, her tone devoid of humor. “I care only that this ends in a month, and ye keep yer promise.”
Aaron’s jaw tightened slightly. “I give ye me word.”
Her frown had not eased in the slightest, and somehow it made the freckles across her cheeks look even bolder under the afternoon light. She looked away.
“Ye will move to the chambers in the east wing,” Aaron continued, and she nodded once, her hazel eyes fixing somewhere in the study behind him. “As I told ye, there will be four official outings. The market. The fields. The village fair. And the harvest festival.” He moved closer. “And at the festival, ye will dance only with me.”
A smirk tugged briefly at his mouth when her back stiffened slightly.
The harvest dances were never brief affairs. Half the clan would be watching them, and the other half would talk after.
Her tight dress forced her shoulders back once she breathed deeply, and color rose to her cheeks, painting them light pink.
Good.
“After each outing,” Aaron continued, his gaze lingering on her rosy cheeks, “ye’ll receive a lesson from Martin.”
He folded his hands behind his back, and she finally met his gaze, reacting better to that piece of information than to anything else he’d said that afternoon. “And ye will attend every supper at me side. No absences. No excuses.”
He straightened once he finished, waiting for her response.
“Is that all?” she asked, irritation thinly veiled beneath her voice, though her face had already softened.
I am asking for a month, Edith. Nae a lifetime.
“For now,” he answered, choosing to ignore her tone.
His eyes flicked over her then. They went first to the maid’s apron around her waist, ill-fitted to the rest of her outfit, though he had no mind to question it. She always did what she wanted, even as a young girl.
He noticed the dirt stains on the sleeves of her dress and several loose strands of auburn hair clinging stubbornly to her flushed face.
She had likely come directly from outside.
